DREAM OR NIGHTMARE?

Ecstasy was the third most commonly used illegal drug in the UK in 2015, after cannabis and cocaine, with 1.5 percent (492,000 people) admitting to having used it in the previous year.

Results of the 2007 survey indicated that 2.3 percent of 13-14 year olds, 5.2 percent of 15-16 year olds, and 6.5 percent of 17-18 year olds had tried Ecstasy at least once.

92 percent of those who begin using Ecstasy later turn to other drugs including marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine and heroin.

Imaginary Love Pill
Off with the Mask

Ecstasy is often called “the love pill” because it heightens perceptions of colour and sound and supposedly amplifies sensations when one touches or caresses another, particularly during sex.

But Ecstasy often contains hallucinogens, which are drugs that act on the mind and cause people to see or feel things that are not really there. Hallucinogens can throw a person into a scary or sad experience from the past, where he or she gets stuck without even realising it.

The image of Ecstasy as a “love pill” is one of many lies that are spread about the drug.

“Rave parties are okay so long as you don’t take Ecstasy. But as soon as you start, you think people who advise you to stop are idiots. You start to believe you have found something great and others must not try to tell you the contrary. When you start liking Ecstasy, it’s too late, you’re sunk.” —Pat